Phantom Planet – Raise The Dead

April 22, 2008

For their first album in four years, Los Angeles based band Phantom Planet fuses all of the musical phases their ten year history has seen them go through, from Beach Boys inspired power pop to jagged garage and punk inspired rock, into one immensely satisfying whole on Raise The Dead. The record leans more to the noisy guitar rock of “Big Brat” than the dreamy pop of songs like “California” and “Lonely Day,” but they haven’t lost their knack for hooks, as the first four cuts will attest, which start the album out with a bang and constitute some of the best songs. “Demon Daughters” and “Leave Yourself For Someone Else” are highlights from the second half of the album, which fortunately never runs out of gas throughout its 12 track, 43 minute running time. It’s a solid return for a band that’s never quite figured out what it wants to do, so it continues to try out a bit of everything. Time will tell if Phantom Planet will settle on a single sound, but it’s fun hearing them work it out in the meantime. Standout cuts: “Raise The Dead,” “Dropped,” “Leader” and “Do The Panic.”